Ash

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'Louise Wallace writes the excruciating and transformative with such precision it’s almost impossible to believe. This is a razor-sharp novel: claustrophobic and expansive at once, full of terror and dark humor.' Lottie Hazell, author of Piglet

'Bruising, beautiful and uncompromising in the way that it explores anger, anxiety, motherhood and womanhood.' Daisy Buchanan, author of Careering

'As poetic as it is experimental . . . this is a novel you'll consume in one sitting.' Katie Yee, author of Maggie; or A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar

Thea lives under a mountain – one that's ready to blow.

A vet at a mid-sized rural practice, she has been called back during maternity leave and is coping – just – with the juggle of meetings, mealtimes, farm visits, her boss's search for legal loopholes and the constant care of her much-loved children, Eli and Lucy.

But something is shifting in Thea – something is burning. Or is it that she is becoming aware, for the first time, of the bright, hot core at her centre?

An urgent rallying cry to women everywhere, ASH is a story about reckoning with one's rage and finding marvels in the midst of chaos.

Louise Wallace writes the excruciating and transformative with such precision it’s almost impossible to believe. This is a razor-sharp novel: claustrophobic and expansive at once, full of terror and dark humour.
Lottie Hazell, author of PIGLET

Louise Wallace is a keen observer of humanity. In Ash, she's created a memorable woman on the verge, a singular narrator in less-than-ideal circumstances: a chaotic schedule, an unjust workplace, a helpless husband, and a child that's fallen sick due to a sudden freak environmental disaster. New experiences call for new containers, new ways to tell a story. As poetic as it is experimental, Ash is one woman's bold attempt to create a novel way to talk about the unprecedented . . . a novel you'll consume in one sitting
Katie Yee, author of MAGGIE; OR A MAN AND A WOMAN WALK INTO A BAR

About Louise Wallace

LOUISE WALLACE is the author of four collections of poems, including THIS IS A STORY ABOUT YOUR MOTHER (2023). She is the founder and editor of Starling, an online journal publishing the work of young writers from Aotearoa, and the editor of Orongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2022. She is a recipient of the Biggs Prize for Poetry and a Robert Burns fellow. She grew up in Gisborne and lives in Otepoti Dunedin.

ASH is her debut novel.

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Details

Imprint: Penguin
Published: 23/07/2026
ISBN: 9781804959466
Length: 160 pages
Price: £7.99

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Ash

Format:

Pre-order:

Louise Wallace writes the excruciating and transformative with such precision it’s almost impossible to believe. This is a razor-sharp novel: claustrophobic and expansive at once, full of terror and dark humour.

ASH is equal parts premonition, fever dream, and love song. A sharp arrow puncturing the dreams and delusions of modern life. I got full body chills reading it, and was left filled with sorrow and longing

Profoundly unsettling, deeply enraging and unforgettable. ASH is bruising, beautiful and uncompromising in the way that it explores anger, anxiety, motherhood and womanhood.

About Louise Wallace

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